Cocaine changes brain to seek more

Cocaine triggers rapid growth in brain structures tied to memory and learning, but only in a way that helps the user seek out more cocaine, according to a study in mice published in the journal Nature Neuroscience. Researchers say that the cocaine users were much better able to find enclosures where they had received cocaine than mice who hadn’t.

For the study, researchers split the mice into two groups. One group received cocaine injections and the other group was given saline injections. Then researchers observed the mice’s living brain cells using a 2photon laser-scanning microscope. Immediately the mice that had received cocaine began to grow more new dendritic spines than those in the saline group. Dendritic spines are key for signaling, and pass messages from one nerve cell to another.

In addition, researchers found a link between increased dendritic spine density in the frontal lobe and drug-associated learning. Long-term drug use actually shows a decrease in frontal cortex function when it comes to mundane cues or tasks, but an increase in function when responding to information or activity related to the drug.

The frontal cortex is responsible for behaviors that involve higher reasoning and discipline, such as long-term planning and decision-making. Researchers say that because the frontal cortex is akin to the “steering wheel” of our brain, it may bias decision-making towards drugs when affected by cocaine.

Stress makes it harder to control emotions

A study from researchers at New York University suggests that mild stress in everyday life may prevent coping strategies for conditions such as social anxiety, from being all that effective. The findings suggest that certain therapies that teach people how to better regulate their emotions actually may not prove to be so useful in the real world.

In the study, 78 participants viewed pictures of snakes and spiders. Some pictures were paired with an electric shock, and participants eventually developed a fear of these pictures. Next, the participants were taught therapeutic strategies, such as those used in clinics, to reduce the fear induced by these pictures. The next day, participants were randomly assigned to either place their hands in icy water for three minutes (a technique used in experiments to induce mild stress), or to place their hands in warm water. Those who placed their hands in warm water showed a reduced fear response when they viewed the pictures of snakes and spiders, indicating that the participants were able to use the techniques they’d learned the previous day to control their emotions. However, those who placed their hands in icy water showed no reduction in fear compared to the previous day.

The prefrontal cortex in the brain helps us regulate our emotions. Researchers suggest that when we are in a stressful situation, that area of the brain may already be stimulated and not able to help with cognitive regulation. So what should you do? Practice cognitive regulation strategies until they become second nature and you won’t have to rely on so much effort from your brain when you’re in a stressful situation.

Crohn's and colitis drug effective in trials

Two studies published this week in the New England Journal of Medicine found that the drug vedolizumab may be an effective treatment for patients with inflammatory bowel conditions, for whom other treatments haven’t worked.

Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis are the two most common types of inflammatory bowel disease, and can become so severe that they lead to bowel obstruction or colon cancer. Some patients may even have to have part of their bowel removed. Symptoms can range from diarrhea and bleeding, to fatigue, weight loss and anemia.

The two trials are part of the four-part study GEMINI program that is investigating vedolizumab in 2,700 patients in 40 countries, and is the largest phase 3 trial to evaluate both Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis together. GEMINI I evaluated vedolizumab in patients with ulcerative colitis and GEMINI II tested the drug in patients with Crohn’s disease. To participate in the trials, patients needed to have failed to be helped by at least one conventional treatment.

The researchers believe that vedolizumab may be a better treatment option for Crohn’s and ulcerative colitis patients because it focuses specifically on bacteria in the gut. Generally, people fighting colitis and Crohn’s have to take a broad spectrum anti-inflammatory medications that not only affect inflammation in the gut, but also in the lungs, skin and brain, which can lead to side effects such as pneumonia, skin infections and blood infections.

The study results for GEMINI I show that in patients with ulcerative colitis, the drug met its primary goals of improved clinical response and reduction in rectal bleeding at six weeks and clinical remission at 52 weeks. For the Crohn’s patients part of GEMINI II, the results reflected that vedolizumab had a statistically significant improvement in the primary goal of clinical remission at six and 52 weeks compared with placebo.A Japanese pharmaceutical company has recently applied to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for vedolizumab to be licensed for the treatment of adults with moderately to severely active Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis.

Personality trait shapes why haters hate

New research suggests that our individual personality, or dispositional attitude, may define our general like or dislike for things around us. According to a study published in theJournal of Personality and Social Psychology, a person’s attitude towards two distinctly different things may be the same simply because the attitude is being formed about these things by the same person. Positive people tend to see the positive features in something, whereas negative people are more prone to see the negative ones.

The study’s authors created a scale that required people to report their attitudes toward a wide variety of unrelated stimuli, such as architecture, cold showers, politics, and soccer. Upon knowing how much people liked or disliked these specific things, the responses were then averaged together to calculate their dispositional attitude (how much they tend to like or dislike things in general). Throughout the study, the researchers found that people with generally positive dispositional attitudes are more open than people with generally negative dispositional attitudes.

Practically, this research may provide insight for marketers, for example, on why certain people may be prone to buy certain products, or why certain people follow through with positive actions, such as recycling.